‘Trouble With the Curve’: You need to catch it

There was a lot of speculation that “Gran Torino” would be Clint Eastwood’s last appearance before the camera, including from the actor himself, and that could have been a wise decision. It’s arguably one of his three best movies — the other two being “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and “Dirty Harry.”

At age 82, however, Clint’s still going strong and, with the possible exception of his peculiar conversation with a chair at last summer’s Republican National Convention, fully capable of delivering a fine performance. Hence, it’s nice that he’s starred in another film, “Trouble With the Curve,” now available on BD and DVD.

Make no mistake: this movie does not feature Eastwood roaming the Spaghetti West or the wild streets of San Francisco. Instead, he plays Gus Lobel, a career baseball scout working for the Atlanta Braves.

Long a widower who lives by himself and has only Spam and Schlitz in his refrigerator, Gus is a cigar-smoking baseball student of the old school who eschews such modern claptrap as computerized statistics, preferring to see prospective players perform in person.

Therein lies the problem.

Gus is in the twilight not only of his career but of his life and is suffering the physical breakdowns that occur along with the aging process. He has to hold a conversation with a part of himself in order to urinate (fortunately, it’s a lot less rambling that his talk with the empty seat). His balance isn’t always the best. Worst of all, his eyesight is failing — it’s diagnosed as macular degeneration, and the doctor thinks it would be best if he gave up working and underwent treatment. Gus refuses, however, and elects to keep the condition to himself.

Also, since his contract is coming up for renewal, there’s a move afoot in the Braves’ front office to put Gus out to pasture. As in “Moneyball,” statistics have become the norm there and a man who relies on his experience and instinct in making player recommendations is considered a colorful oddity at best or a dangerous crank at worst. The one management person in Gus’ corner is the director of baseball scouts, Pete Klein (John Goodman).

Pete, however, knows something isn’t right with Gus and tries to get him to say what’s wrong. Failing in that effort, Pete then enlists the help of Gus’ daughter, Mickey (Amy Adams), an up-and-comer at a law firm, to try to get him to talk. Gus, of course, won’t tell her anything and instead takes off on a road trip to North Carolina to check out a promising batter.

A big case is making it a crucial time in Mickey’s legal career, but she decides to go after her dad, from whom she was estranged much of her life. Along the way, she falls in love with a young baseball scout, Johnny “The Flame” Flanagan (Justin Timberlake), a former pitcher Gus had recommended several years earlier. Also, having studied baseball at the foot of the master, Mickey eventually becomes Gus’ “eyes” to confirm something he’s sure he hears.

Although this ostensibly is a baseball movie, it’s actually a film about the love between a father and his daughter, even after years of separation.

Extras: The baseball action isn’t the only thing to cheer about this movie. It also doesn’t waste your time with a director’s commentary. In fact, the only “extra” is a behind-the-scenes feature called “Trouble With the Curve: For the Love of the Game.”

The bottom line: When this movie came out in theaters, a goodly number of reviewers pooh-poohed it as trite because it was predictable. Yes, the story IS predictable. It’s one of those movies where you know everything is going to work out in the end. But in his Westerns, you always knew Clint Eastwood was going to win the gunfight. How he did it, though, was the interesting part. It’s the same with “Trouble With the Curve.” It’s watching the route that events take to their inevitable conclusion that makes it an enjoyable film.